Memories
by awakened-earth
Summary: Naru and Lin are back after 6 months. But on their first case, weird stuff happens. what if the team have to dive into their memories, what if they remember things they'd rather forget –can they handle seeing their lives flash before their eyes? SWEARING!
1. Prologue

Disclaimer – I do not own Ghost hunt in anyway, anything I have not come up with myself I do not own.

Memories

1: Prologue

General POV

Mai was running so fast, her teacher had warned the class that if anyone got into class even five seconds after the first name was called they would have an after school detention every Friday until the end of term. At that point he turned to her and said, "regardless if you have a job or not". Damn teacher, Mai thought, her job was really important, she needed to be there!

She ran up the stairs, three more floors to go, she started to see spots. At the last second she got through the door just as the first name was called. She went to her seat and slumped down, she needed water otherwise she would pass out.

"Mai Taniyama" sir called slightly annoyed that she had been literally less than five seconds away from being late. Guess she had good luck.

"Yes sir" Mai answered, panting. Taking her drink out of her bag she downed it in one.

School was fine that day. Unlike what was common belief in SPR Mai was a straight A student, well almost, and that was when she attended classes (which was when she could, and most of the time she missed she made up during free periods and sometimes after school)

Mai started to space out in maths. It had been six months since Naru had left for England with Lin.

She had not heard from them really at all, maybe an e-mail from Lin here and there, but nothing constant. She saw the others nearly weekly. She, Monk, Ayako, Masako and John had just last night gone to dinner at a good but relatively cheap restaurant. It was good. Mai and Masako still were at each-other's throats all the time, nothing had changed there, except Masako was maybe a little more smug that she had at least got one date with Naru. Mai reassured herself by reminding herself it was not a real and Masako was probably blackmailing Naru anyway.

Mai had had to get a new job after Naru had left and SPR had closed down. She had got herself a part-time job as a waitress at a well known and successful cafe, a part-time job as a baby-sitter, and another part-time job as a shop assistant. Even though she worked about the same as she did for SPR she hadn't missed a day of school since then, and soon had made her way back to the top of the class. Even though she liked her job, and she didn't have to miss school, she missed her old job.

Mai's POV

I miss my old job. The way I always had to make tea, Naru bossing me about, him ignoring me all the time never saying thank-you! (DAMN IT NARU!!!!). The way he would occasionally smile. The look of his eyes. The way his hair swept across his face. I miss his good figure. His... DAMN IT MAI STOP THINKING LIKE THIS!!!! He's gone! Get back to the maths lesson!

"Mai" hmm? Did someone say something? Must be my imagination. I wonder what Lin's doing right now.

"Taniyama-san" I swear I just heard something. Maybe he has to deal with Naru, or they may have gone their separate ways, nah that would never happen. I wonder when they'll come back, that if they...

"MAI TANIYAMA!!!!!" sir shouts, I snap out of my day-dream.

"Urh, yes sir?" he's gonna shout at me I just know it.

"Go to the head teacher's office" well maybe not.

"NOW!" oops spoke too soon.

"Okay sorry sir" I got up and made my way out of the class from there I ran to the head's office.

The door was open, I knocked anyway.

"Come in" the head commanded. I stepped in.

"Mai, what have you done?" he asked me in an understanding tone, if not slightly wearily.

"Urm... I'm not exactly sure; I think I was day-dreaming again. But I don't get why he gets so annoyed I'm basically the only one who gets the stuff he's talking about and am the only one who's finished it." I say, I know I can speak like this to the head. He chuckles.

"Yes you are a good student aren't you?" "Well why don't you go back to class now and say that I have let you off" he says with a dismissive smile.

"Yes sir, but I don't think he'll take that, he'll say something like "don't tell lies! You've got detention next Friday after school, and I don't care if you have to work or not! You can call in and say you've got school you can't miss, they'll understand"" sir chuckled again.

"Well in that case go back and say that I need to speak with him" he dismissed me and went back to talking on the phone.

"Yes Mr Shibuya, when can I expect you?"

Shibuya? Shibuya? He doesn't mean Nary does he?

Naru's POV

Did Mai's head teacher just say she was a good student? Did she just say she was the only one in the class who can and has finished the work? Did the head agree with her? Oh yes, Mai's potentially a straight A student, why doesn't she say when Yasu or I call her stupid? Yes she's naive but stupid? Ah well she is, no matter what her report card says. I picked up my bags signalled to Lin and then we were off.

"You can expect me in three days. I would appreciate it if you don't tell Mai Taniyama about this."

"Well of course but I can't guarantee that she won't find out, she's a bright child and can find out anything that is going on at school, sometimes she knows more about the school than the staff." The head told me.

"One more question, does Mai and her friends still tell ghost stories after school?" I want to know this; I need to know this piece of information.

"Yes, sometimes she quite scares her friends with her stories and her 'creepy voice'" the head chuckled, again. I guess he really likes Mai.

Contradiction to common belief in Japan, I only went to England to visit my adoptive family, go to my brothers funeral, take a few cases, and to tell everyone in England that I was permanently moving to live in Japan and was reopening SPR. I hope everyone will want their jobs back, especially Mai. Her tea is the best, and I strangely like having her around, no matter how annoying she could be. I find that I miss her getting annoyed with me for being rude and never saying thank you. The way she could get easily flustered. Her stubborn attitude. The smile that I loved but dreaded so much as it did things to me. Her... NO! STOP THINKING LIKE THIS NARU! YOU LEFT SHE'S NOT GOING TO WANT YOU ANYMORE! Did I just refer to myself as Naru? Damn she must have got to me. I must admit Naru does sound better than Noll. I put the phone down and resumed packing. I wonder how big of a shock it will be to her when she sees me at her school.


	2. Greetings

Chapter 2: greetings

General POV 

Mai was packing up her things after her last lesson; soon she would be going to tell ghost stories in an empty room. Michiru and Keiko were with her, they also were packing their things. Waiting until the bell went they made their way to the room they told their stories in. The girls had come up with many new ghost stories, but Mai's were always the best, she just had a good imagination, and sometimes she would tell a ghost story about a case she had been on.

"...and there he was, in the bath bathing in the young people's blood" Mai finished and turned off her light. The other two looked terrified while she was telling the story and jumped when Mai turned off the light.

"Do you really have to always use that voice? It's scary!" Keiko whined, Mai started to laugh at this.

"That's the point; it's a ghost story it's supposed to be scary, a lot of the time it's all about the voice. Shall we do it then?"

Naru's POV

"...and there he was, in the bath bathing in the young people's blood" Mai finished and turned off her light. She was talking about a case, she really can tell ghost stories, the other two look scared out of their skin.

"Do you really have to always use that voice? It's scary!" a girl whined, Mai started to laugh, I also started to laugh silently.

"That's the point; it's a ghost story it's supposed to be scary, a lot of the time it's all about the voice. Shall we do it then?" Mai's right there. They were right both the girl (Keiko was it?) and the head, she really does have a creepy ghost story telling voice (it almost gives me shivers). They're about to count as they had done the first time I had met them.

"One" said the other girl who I can remember was called Michiru. She looks a bit on edge.

"Two..." whispered Keiko in a very unsure way, maybe it was because of Mai's story.

"Three" Mai said in a loud clear voice, my cue...

"Four" I said. Keiko clung onto Michiru and Michiru onto Mai. They all looked scared but Mai after a fraction of a second looked for the voice and found me.

"Hello, you probably don't remember me. I'm Kazaya Shibuya" I introduced myself. Mai was scowling but I expect that from her, I turn up after six months of no contact, it's understandable. What I don't understand is the other two started to giggle and look to Mai, who elbowed them in the ribs.

"That's the guy who she's in love with right?" Michiru whispered to Keiko, but not quiet enough.

"Yeah, she told him and got rejected. That blows our chances with him then" Keiko answered jokingly. They're still laughing. Wait does that mean, Mai still likes me? Does that mean she never liked Gene more than a friend? There is no point asking yourself these questions Naru, she probably has given up on you and you'd probably be a really bad boyfriend anyway. Hang on did I refer to myself as Naru _again_? Never mind I need to talk to Mai.

"Mai may I talk with you?" I asked and walked outside, once there I started waiting for Mai. I wonder how long she'll take, will she come out at all...

"What do you want Naru?" Mai asked me in that tone she always uses.

"Oh well were back for good now and I'm reopening SPR I was just wandering if you wanted your job back." I think I'll act smooth, even though I'm really nervous; I really, really want her to come back.

"Say it more nicely, I know you want me to come back" and she sees right through me again. Does that mean she wants me to say please?

"I want you to come back. Will you please take my job offer?" she's never going to let me live this down.

"Of course Naru, as you know I love that job, but there's one thing before I might have missed school for however knows how long and just caught up later. Now I will have a full day of school at least twice a week. And if I can't you will be to blame for me failing in my education" Mai said forcefully. I respect her in this moment completely, even more so than I usually do (although I'll never tell her that I respect her at all) I couldn't ever deprive her of her education.

"Yes of course, we would want you to dive even deeper into the depths of dumb" that's it be the narcissistic jerk you always are. Why am I always talking to myself as if I'm someone else when I'm criticising myself? I sigh. My minds going even weirder on me, this isn't good.

"For your information my work is nearly always up to a grade a standard, thank-you very much!" Mai snapped at me.

"Yes, but that's when you go to school. You have basically no common sense and you're too naive." That's true and she knows it. Mai then huffed out of my sight. I find myself watching her as she goes. Snap out of it Naru! Someone might see you! Damn! Why am I calling myself Naru now?! With that I stalked away calling over my shoulder.

"Mai don't be late!" she replied with a grunt meaning okay. Now just to find the others.

Mai POV

That narcissistic jerk!!!! He doesn't have to be so smug all the time! Well at least he practically begged me to come back. I might be able to have some fun with that, not blackmail him but maybe embarrass him in front of the others...that's if they come back, I hope they do.

(The next day before work)

Oh damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! I'm gonna be late for my first day back at SPR. Yesterday right after getting my job back I resigned from my other jobs, just telling them that I got a job offer and I accepted. *sigh* I can't be late on my first day back! Oh good I'm about to round the corner to the office. I'm now sprinting up the stairs.

"It's Mai" I shout once I'm through the door, hanging up my jacket. When I said two full school days I meant on a case, or at least the equivalent to it.

"You're late! How can you be late on your first day back? Anyway get me some tea" Naru answered me.

"Okay. You know you could say please once in a while!!!" I shouted even though I wouldn't change Naru for anything. As I was making the tea the door opened and a man in a suit stepped in.

"Why hello. Welcome to Shibuya Psychic Research. How may we help you?" I said to the man in my usual customer voice.

"Hello my name is Hikaru Tanaka. I called in yesterday. May I speak with the head of Shibuya Psychic Research please?" the man stated. He had a nervous look about him. Maybe we were going to get a new case.

"Of course. Would you stay here while I get him? Why don't you sit down? Would you like some tea?" I asked. I think I'm getting back into my job now. Same old same old. Why do I always end up using these lines and tone of voice?

"Thank-you and no thank-you I would not like some tea" Hikaru said to me in a soft voice.

I walked up to Naru's office knocked once to let him know I was coming in. I didn't wait for and answer before I came in.

"A man called Hikaru Tanaka is outside and wanting to talk to you. He said he called yesterday. He looks kind of on edge, is it a case?" I said quietly so Hikaru couldn't hear me. Naru sighed. Why is Naru sighing?

"Okay I'll be out in a second. Can you get me some more tea please Mai?" Naru asked me. He didn't tell me to get him some tea or ask me in a way to say that he wants some tea. He is genuinely asking me for it. Naru looks tired, maybe that's why he's got his guard down a bit.

"Oh and Mai. I think it is another case" with that Naru left his office leaving me alone with my thoughts.


	3. The Case

The case

Mai's POV 

I walked up to Naru's office knocked once to let him know I was coming in. I didn't wait for and answer before I came in.

"A man called Hikaru Tanaka is outside and wanting to talk to you. He said he called yesterday. He looks kind of on edge, is it a case?" I said quietly so Hikaru couldn't hear me. Naru sighed. Why is Naru sighing?

"Okay I'll be out in a second. Can you get me some more tea please Mai?" Naru asked me. He didn't tell me to get him some tea or ask me in a way to say that he wants some tea. He is genuinely asking me for it. Naru looks tired, maybe that's why he's got his guard down a bit.

"Oh and Mai. I think it is another case" with that Naru left his office leaving me alone with my thoughts. I quickly walked out of his office and went to make the tea. Just then the others walked in; smiled at me, saw there was a client and sat down quietly.

"These are some more of my employees. So what is it that you want us to do?" Naru asked Hikaru.

"Well I own a hotel and I think it's being haunted." He stated, while being a bit reserved. I think Naru picked up on this frowned slightly, but other than that kept his mask on.

"And what is making you think this? What is happening? And do you know any reason for the haunting?" Naru asked, sighing. How rude, but then again he does look very tired, I wonder why.

I heard the kettle whistle so I hopped up to make the tea. As I was pouring the tea I let my mind wonder. Why was Naru gone for six months if it had only been for Gene's funeral, a case and declare he was staying in Japan? Why didn't he say he would be coming back? Did he initially intend to? I let my mind wonder until I felt the effect of me missing a mug and I splashed boiling water on my bare legs and left hand. I gasped and bit my lip stopping a shout from escaping my lips. Even though I didn't shout out they heard my gasp and Ayako came in to see if I was alright, just to see me leaning against the counter with a wet towel wrapped around an ice block on my legs and my other hand underneath the cold running water.

I motioned to her to take the tea out and she did before coming back and looking at my scalding. She sighed and I just looked at her.

"Well it's a good thing that you didn't leave it, it is also good that you didn't put the ice straight on, you shouldn't overcool either burns or scalds. Stay there for another ten minutes and then it should be fine." Ayako told me and I nodded. She left me in the kitchen after giving me a concerned look. I could hear that everyone else had stopped talking to listen to us, wanting to know what I had gasped in pain about. But they were now talking again and Hikaru was explaining the haunting in his hotel.

"Well in my hotel things have been moving around, going missing only to be found again where they were. My customers have been targeted. Mainly people in-between the ages of fifteen and forty. Their stuff, mainly things of sentimental value have been moved and damaged. Also some of them have been in accidents that could have affected their brain and memory if not killed them. We have had one death after it started, he died of brain injury." His words rushed out and he looked nervous.

"I think there is a haunting because, years and years ago before I bought the place and made it a hotel, it was a hotel before and someone died. Could you please check it out? Please." The man finished pleading with Naru. What I find strange is that she wasn't shocked by Naru being as young as he is. I could hear Naru was going to say something rude so I decided to say something.

"How about it Naru? I think we should. It sounds genuine to me. Don't you roll your eyes at me!" I said and heard the others laugh at that.

Naru's POV

That is just too weird. She wasn't even in the room and she knew I was going to comment. And how in hell did she know I rolled my eyes?! Ahh well I don't think I want to know... come to think of it this case sound really interesting to me.

"Of course. We will need two rooms for us to sleep in and another for us to use as our base. You can leave the address with my assistant that has just walked in from the kitchen" at this Mai glared at me, and bit back a retort, literally she bit her lip holding her retort, sometimes she was just too fun. That was when I noticed her scalding, it looked bad but Ayako didn't seem to think so, so I let it go, knowing that Ayako would take care of it if anything was wrong. That didn't stop me worrying though, she would just have to be more careful, but then again when was Mai ever one to be careful?

"Alright, that seems to be fine, we'll see you soon. Have a good day Mr. Tanaka." Mai said smoothly in the voice she used when addressing clients for the first time. It was weird; she was awful al lying to us but had no problem lying to them, if you could call what she does lying. I picked up my tea and walked back into my office wondering all the while. Why have I been concealing myself for so long? Why am I beginning to slip up now? Why am I so tired? I could have this amount of sleep and be fine before, but I do have a bit more work than before. Have Mai's abilities gotten better over the last six months, she already had made a lot of progress in the year and a bit since she started to work for me. Why am I saying please all of a sudden, I know it's to do with being tired, maybe it's because I was just too tired to have an argument with Mai over saying please and thank-you. I know she would have come back to work if I didn't say please, but it would have taken longer.

"Pack your things; we are starting the case tomorrow. Be here at eleven tonight." I ordered and inwardly laughed at the sound of my annoyed employees especially Mai, I made a mental note: I really have to do this more often.

General POV (_10:59 PM)_

There was one minute to go before the agreed time and Mai was still not at the office. Ten seconds to go: nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, and on Zero the door opened revealing Mai.

"I'm not late! I have another minute give or take until I would be late so, HA!" Mai spoke triumphantly, they all laughed except for Naru and Masako, and even Lin had to stifle a snigger.

Masako had been very annoyed to say the least when she heard Naru had practically begged Mai to come back when he didn't so much as care if she came back or not, he had basically said.

_Flashback_

Naru walked through the door of the office for Masako's programme and waited for someone to see him. A woman with long brown hair and dark green eyes instantly saw him and waltzed over to him. Naru knew that they would never let him see the star but if he played his cards right she just might. The woman was obviously flirting with him so he went along with it, for a few minutes before saying:

"Sorry but I am a former employer of Masako Hara and I do apologize but I must speak with her. My name is Kazaya Shibuya; can you tell her that I need to speak with her? If she doesn't recognise say Naru or Noll she'll know what it's about." Naru said smoothly the woman looked taken aback, but nodded and went off to find the young star.

Minutes later Masako came running out to meet him.

"Hara-san, I'm back in Japan for good now I was just wondering if you wanted your job back, but if you don't I dare say it won't be a problem" Naru said bluntly and Masako nodded.

"Yes, I would like that job back. When should I come in?" Masako asked, looking a bit upset.

"Tomorrow afternoon, there will be some of the others there already I think."Naru said in a monotone, giving a small hint to Masako that he didn't return her 'love'.

"Mai Taniyama?" Masako asked he nodded and this confirmed her fears, Naru cared for Mai and not for her.

_End flashback_

"Yes I can see that you were not late but we must be going now! We don't have time for idle chatter." Naru sighed. The rest of them then walked out of the door and down to the van and car parked on the side.

"Lin, Mai, Ayako and I will go in the Van. Masako, Yasu, Monk, and John, you will go in the car. Madoka will meet us there; she wants to help us on this case. Monk, follow us." Naru said and wit that got into the passenger seat of the Van before the others got into said vehicle.

And so they started the three hour journey to the hotel.


	4. day 1

The case day 1

Mai must have fallen asleep because she found herself waking up with her head rested against Naru's shoulder. When she realised this she sat up quickly.

"Finally! I never knew you were such a deep sleeper. I tried to wake you up three times before I gave up." Naru said to Mai. Lin let a quick smile grace his lips and Ayako laughed out loud. Mai's cheeks blushed in embarrassment. She had had a... eventful dream concerning her and Naru, and she normally talked in her sleep, Mai really hoped she hadn't talked in her sleep this time.

"Well you obviously didn't try very hard; otherwise I would have woken up. I guess you just like the feel of me on you." Mai retorted and Naru's smirk disappeared, both Ayako and Lin laughed loudly. Naru said nothing.

"How long was I asleep and around about how long have we got left?" Mai asked openly. Ayako was the one to answer the first and Lin the second.

"You were asleep for about an hour, Mai" Ayako told Mai.

"We have about half an hour until we get to the hotel, so you might want to entertain yourselves until we get there." Lin told them all. Mai nodded and went to peering out the window, counting the red cars going past. Mai was counting out loud, but the rest of them didn't know what she was counting.

"Urh, what are you counting Mai?" Naru asked after she had got to sixty-three.

"Well, sixty-four, I'm counting the, sixty-five, red cars, sixty-six, we pass. Sixty-seven" Mai answered as if it was obvious. Naru thought this an okay game, as it did stop boredom, and he himself was counting red signs in his head. It went on like this for a short while, both Naru and Mai noticed the two adults talking quietly in the front, but neither asked what it was about. If it was too quiet to hear then it was obviously not meant to be overheard. After a few minutes both Ayako and Lin chuckled, and glanced momentarily at the two teens in the back, the teens looked back confused. Mai looked at Naru and he looked back, he gestured at the adults as if asking if she had any idea what they were laughing about. Mai replied with a shake of the head and a shrug of the shoulders, as if to say no idea what they're going on about. A whispered convocation between the adults later Lin stopped the car and pulled up into a car park for a very, very, VERY, big building.

"We're here. Bou-san should be here soon" Lin announced and as if on cue the van parked next to the car. They all got out of the car and so did the rest who went in the van. Mai's jaw dropped at how big the hotel was, the others saw this and laughed before they saw the hotel and their jaws dropped too. It was bigger than any building from another case. Mai broke the awed silence.

"Shit, that one big building" Mai voiced the thoughts of the team and they nodded in agreement.

Hikaru came out to meet the team.

"We have two family rooms next to each other and a study for your base just as you asked." Hikaru told Naru who nodded.

"Also we'll need to question anyone who was connected with the haunting so we can get the facts."Naru told Hikaru who just nodded and gestured for them to follow him as he turned to walk back to the hotel.

A while later the base was set up and the interviews were in full swing.

"Well, a few of my most treasured items have gone missing just to be found in the same place again even though I looked there almost a hundred times. Also I've been having dreams, well memories really that I hadn't thought about in years, and after that elements from my memory would pop up in the same way it had been in my memory. And I've been getting a bit forgetful as well." One of the cleaning ladies said, and her words had been echoed in everyone else's. The team found this a bit weird to say the least. They decided to check the temperatures in all the rooms and to put cameras where they could, but in the guests room's they could only put thermometers as it would be an invasion of privacy to put cameras in there and weren't legally allowed to. Mai was assigned to base again, but she didn't complain. John and Lin went out of the hotel and into town for reasons that they wouldn't say.

When the team and Madoka (who had met them there) (the team minus Ayako, John and Lin) came back into base they found Mai asleep on the desk she was at.

"She's fallen asleep again" monk said laughing. Naru hearing this looked up from his desk at base.

'How can she fall asleep now? Again!' Naru thought as he watched Mai sleep out of the corner of his eye. No one caught him doing this...no one except for Madoka; she just smiled wryly and walked out of base to talk to the client. Just when Naru was thinking Mai was just lazy, Mai clenched her left fist, so hard it began to bleed. He then saw REM behind her closed eyes. Naru then realised she was having another dream as she normally did when they were on a case, but this one was a nightmare and worse than she normally had.

"Monk-san, get Ayako." Naru ordered. Monk nodded looking confused.

"But why?" monk asked. Naru just about held back from rolling his eyes.

"If you hadn't noticed Mai is having another dream but this one is so bad she's made her hand bleed. I need Ayako to check it out" Monk then noticed he was right and dashed out to get the shrine maiden.

When they had all gone out, Naru left his desk to kneel down next to Mai. Wondering what had made her so distressed she had injured herself, he placed his hand on her forehead trying to sooth her. He felt a cold sweat on her face. Felt her pulse, at his touch it slowed marginally.

Naru got up when he heard people coming in but not before Lin and Madoka saw him although they didn't say anything. Just then Ayako came in fuming.

"Yes it is good that you called right away but how could you let her injure herself in the first-place?" Ayako sighed. She then examined her hand. Seeing something she looked at the other one and nodded. The others were just about to ask when...

"It's not too deep, but deep enough to scar. I noticed the edge of a scar on one of the cuts, I looked at the other hand, and she's done this before and has at least two sets of scars on top of each-other so this will be at least the third time. But what I don't know is what it is that is making her clench her fists to make her bleed or how she can even when she has her nails cut so short. I'll clean it, but a bandage on it but that's about all I can do. We just need to ask her what she was dreaming, although this may cause her some distress...again." Ayako cleaned Mai's hand and bandaged it just as the blood dripped of Mai's hand and onto the floor. By this time everyone had walked in, silence fell as they saw the blood drip onto the small pool of blood on the floor. The temperature dropped. Naru read the digital thermometer. It had dropped from 17°C down to 4°C in the couple of seconds it took Lin to look at the temperature, and still dropping. The decrease in temperature stopped finally at -2°C. Mai stopped clenching her fists, looking calm. Masako's eyes widened, staring at Mai she backed into a wall and slid down it. Whispering something to herself she closed her eyes, stood up to her full height and said in a sure clear voice...

"Do not use her, why don't you use me to speak your will? I am a medium and better suited to it." At that everyone looked at Masako, and back to Mai. The temperature went back to normal.

Mai then started to move her right wrist finger extended as if she was writing something. Writing appeared on the wall in an unknown substance the words: No. Try and stop me! Mai then opened her eyes, looked around and stood up. She looked at the rest of the team with cold emotionless eyes, but then smiled although this smile did not reach her eyes.

Naru's POV

Who is this? Who is this that has possessed Mai? How did it write on the wall _after _it had possessed her? Why Mai? Is it because of her powers? No, it couldn't be otherwise it would try and possess me as my powers are a lot stronger than hers. It couldn't be that it wanted to pass on a message otherwise it would have possessed Masako. Maybe it was so Mai couldn't say what her dream was. It's threatening; we know that much from the writing on the wall. And it's aggressive, to come out on the first day of us being here. I guess we'll just have to go along with it for now until John gets here to do the exorcism, at the moment he's the safest option.


	5. Realisation

Chapter 4 – realisation

Normal POV

Mai then opened her eyes, looked around and stood up. She looked at the rest of the team with cold, emotionless eyes, but then smiled although this smile was not real.

She let out a cold giggle that sent shivers down the spine of everyone present. The cuts that had previously been on Mai's skin had healed which put more questions into Naru's mind, such as 'is that the spirits ability or Mai's?' Everyone noticed that Mai was now looking at Naru, her head cocked to one side, a smirk lining her lips. She walked lightly towards him.

"So" she started. "Are you the 'Naru' she so often thinks about? And it is you and not 'Gene' that she thinks about" her aura at the time was not black, not evil, but… mischievous, a mix of colours.

They all swallowed silently at the sight of this Mai looking so… un'mai'ish. And their eyes widened when they heard her voice so, serious. All… but Naru who was keeping his composure, although what he really wanted to do was wince and shudder when this person possessing Mai walked and talked and giggled. He was the first one to talk after this.

"Yes, I am _'Naru' _Kazuya Shibuya…"

"Oliver Davis?" she interrupted.

"Yes… Oliver Davis. I will ask… are you able to look at her memories? You seem awfully familiar with all of us." Naru asked. This question was the cause for this person to stop, cock her head and smile sweetly, just how Mai did when she wanted something.

"Yes, well done child. I can see her memories. I can also see all yours if I happen to possess you. But as you can already tell I'm not here to do damage. I'm here to warn you really, then maybe play around with you a bit." The person possessing Mai told them.

"I know, you _want_ to know, so I shall tell you, my name is, Suzume Tsukino: the _Sparrow _in the _MoonFeild._ At this present time, this is all you are getting out of me. So I'll let you have your friend back, her dream and all. And just so you know, I didn't possess her so she couldn't tell her dream. I possessed her because I wanted to possess her, look at her memories, talk to you and after the dream her mind was open for possession so… _adios_"

And with that Mai fell to her knees, her eyes half open with a tear rolling down her cheek. Naru who had walked over to her when she was no longer under possession, wiped the tear off her cheek and said to her, so quietly only Mai heard, not even Naru himself heard.

"Don't worry Mai there is no need to cry. Suzume is no longer possessing you, and the dream is over, in your own time tell us what happened." That is what he whispered to her, the others looked at them. Blank expressions were plastered on their faces. All thinking along the same lines, _'huh? Naru? Comforting Mai? What the hell? When did Naru stop being a jerk?'_ is basically all they could get their minds to come up with, except for Lin who of course would never think such obvious things!

"Thanks, Naru. It's just… a lot more than one death is going on here. I mean all the 'haunting' isn't just one, there are a bunch of ghosts here. I saw a couple of deaths. A guy fell down the stairs, I'm not sure if he was pushed or not, well he fell down the stairs and cracked his head open, but that's not what killed him – what killed him was when his rib punctured his lung, and he drowned in his own blood. Someone else got hit in head with a baseball bat, which gave him amnesia; he died three weeks later when a doctor gave him a fatal amount of morphine accidently. A woman was visiting the hotel because it was where she spent her first weekend alone with her fiancé, but they both got show in a robbery in the town. I didn't find it as stressful as the other dreams so I don't know why I made myself bleed" Mai finished and looked at the others. Naru had a calculating expression on his face, so did the others – but they (apart from Lin) seemed more confused than anything.

They spent the next hour re-checking every room, putting thermal cameras, mics, and normal cameras – in all the main areas with the paranormal activity, they couldn't put them in the rooms in use because of privacy issues but they did put them in some of the rooms out of use (including the ones they were using actually).

Mai tripped down the last step and fell flat on her face, dropping the last camera in the process.

"ow! Dimmit – god I hope that camera isn't broken, Naru's gonna flip" Mai whispered to herself, Monk who saw her fall ran from the top of the stairs to help her.

"Are you alright Mai? Anything broken? Can you walk?" he asked.

"I'm fine Bou-San. I don't think that anything's broken, the camera might be but apart from that… and yes I can waaalk—" Mai started but as soon as she tried to stand up she fell into Monks arms. Monk picked up the camera and gave it to Mai then picked up Mai and carried her to base.

When they got there, they were all expressing their worries – all but Masako, even Naru and Lin were expressing some kind of care. That was when they decided Mai should really go get some sleep, and if she needed anything just say – they would be watching the screens.

Mai got dressed into her night stuff in the bathroom, and climbed into her bed, curled up, rolled over and tried to sleep – she was nearly asleep about ten minutes later, when the room started to get colder – she shot right up.

"Urh, guys – this room is starting to get pretty cold, should I—" Mai started but then cut off; this startled everyone at base watching the monitor. What they saw was the room dropping in temperature pretty quickly, until Mai cut of mid sentence.

"Oh, Naru – she's getting possessed again - this time it seems different, the same but different – it doesn't make sense. They all ran to the room where she was, when they got there she was standing up.

"It's me again, I don't want to do any harm, it's just I was bored – I'm going to show you something, hold on. And just like that they were all engulfed in blackness – and ended up on the astral plane. A room came into view.

Mai stood in the doorway looking into the room. The others stood a couple feet away. They looked from the scene in front of them to Mai worriedly.

"Can she see us here?" Monk asked the others. Naru shook his head.

A bed came into view in the room they were watching, then a girl on the bed. A skinny girl with long lank brown hair and dull brown eyes silently cried with the bed covers on the floor. The girl shivered slightly as she curled into a loose ball. The Team wondered who they were watching, well all but Naru and Mai. Naru looked over to Mai at the doorway, her eyes were cold her face expressionless. Although her face held no expression she looked like she was holding back angry tears.

Everyone but those two gasped when the girl sat up revealing Mai's twelve year old face. They all looked to Mai who swallowed and went back to leaning in the doorway.

The scene changed and Mai's eyes widened momentarily. This time was six months later her hair was still long. Her eyes had slightly more light in them, but not as much as they did now, but who could blame her she had been an orphan for only a short while now. The younger Mai was walking around school with her friends who were trying to engage her in conversation and failing miserably. She was getting changed for PE and the team looked away to protect her privacy and all the other girls there, when they looked back Mai had her hair in bunches and was getting the hockey stuff out of the school sports cupboard. She was then running with her mouth guard in, they all realised that she had always been extremely competitive and somewhat aggressive. Her team won the match because of her; Naru was slightly impressed with her. They looked away again when they were getting changed back. Mai took her hair down and it plastered onto her face, she looked annoyed with it. The team looked surprised when she took a knife out of a draw in the room she and her friends had walked into, they looked scared at what she was about to do, and even more so when she brought it up to her neck. The team looked at Mai nervously and noticed that she looked slightly smug. The younger Mai did not cut herself but bunched her hair up and cut it short. Younger Mai laughed at the expression her friends were giving her, Mai laughed as well, a short hard laugh. The team did not like the sound that escaped Mai's lips, it did not suit her at all, but they did understand that she did not appreciate seeing her memories from a hard time in her life.

The scene changed away but this time she was happy, she was telling ghost stories at school, Naru recognised this as the place where he had met Mai. They all saw Mai relax and made the connection that this was of a better time in her life. They all shivered at the voice she was using and Naru chuckled, they all looked at him as if he had two heads _Naru chuckle? Impossible, he's going mad isn't he?_ That was the gist of what the others were saying. Mai also laughed a much nicer laugh when she saw her friend squeal at her creepy voice. They were counting now, and Naru came in, they screamed. During the memories they had heard some of her thoughts but very faintly so they couldn't understand what they were, this time as it wasn't that long ago, so they could hear the thoughts, well some of them, it went like this. _HA! I'm gonna scare the shit out of them, that will teach them, I'll use my 'creepy voice' as they have named it. Okay now what story? Ooh I know, the one about the red veil! *(skip to near the end of the story)* "and there she was as if she had a red veil on" 3, 2, 1, ah right on cue the squeal and now the complaints. Huh? What she saying? This sounds interesting; it may in fact be slightly true. This story is in fact kinda creepy, not because of what is being said but because it's actually true... hang on why am i thinking like this? HOLY SHIT! FUCK! Oh it's only some guy...oh and now the others will swoon all over him, how can they do that over someone they've just met? I mean even if he does look good. Oh and he's smiling at them...it doesn't reach his eyes, weird. He's a drop out or has finished school early otherwise he would have simply said he was a senior or a sophomore. He's searching for something, and he's analysing us, he's here on work business isn't he? Hang on why am I asking a question? No one else is here to answer it, SHIT for some reason I always think like there is me and then another me. Is that normal? If not, ah well, fuck normal, I'm better. _The team laughed at this and Naru raised his eyebrows. He was thinking about how much Mai had worked out from his face, it did not please him that he was so see-through (but he reasoned that Mai had always had good intuition.)

It went onto the nest memory, and this time it was of Mai at school about three days after Naru and Lin had left.

Mai ran up the stairs, if she didn't get a move on she was going to be late to her afternoon classes and she didn't want that. _Holy fucking SHIT! Why are there so many bloody stairs, she's gonna yell at me – the old cow! She's gonna lecture me 'yadayadayada', she doesn't even know what she's talking about. _Then Mai tripped on a stair "ow, Fuck" she whispered to herself. _Ow, ow, ow. Nearly there, just three more tiny incredibly annoying seconds. Ah there_. She ran through the door, and sat down. Her prediction came true – she was lectured and by the end of the memory Mai had got sent out twice each on false accusations.

They saw a couple more memories before the place faded to black again, and then back to the present. The woman was still standing there.

"You see, she always gets to see people's memories. I just thought it would be fair if the tables were flipped." The woman said.

"You know, there is a lot more going on than stolen memories. I have nothing to do with all the stolen memories; someone else entirely is doing that. How many spirits do you think do you think are here? We hide ourselves very well. I will enlighten you:

The sentimental items moving and remembering old memories is one (me).

The breaking of items is two.

The head injuries that are not permanent is three.

The injuries that are permanent or result in death is four.

The loosing of memories is five.

And you know what? There are still more, yet to show themselves to anyone." she finished and with that she left Mai.

Mai after being possessed for the second time in a day, collapsed, it was to be expected.


	6. NOT AN UPDATE : PLEASE READ

This is not an update.

I do not know how many people actually read this story, but for those who do I need to tell you I am going to revise the whole thing - I read through it and I hated it completely! ... apart from the original concept

This version will stay up, and once I am done I will replace all the chapters - It will be under the same story, I will not be deleting this one so you don't have to worry about checking my account for the new one if you are just subscribed to this one.

I will be simplifying it, this will make the quality much better (at the moment it is waaay too complicated) also the summery will be changing, it is to do with memories, and the few ghosts are all ghosts to do with the mind, they will also hide clues in the characters memories (which is why they each have to watch them) and in that time they will sort out their own lives by being able to actually watch it and realise how fucked up they really were.

I am not abandoning this fic, though between my other stories and school, and the fact that I really only have a five chapter attention span, it will be on hiatus for the foreseeable future. I know it has been a long time since I have updated, and it will be a long time until I do again, but I will eventually - just hang in there, let this be the story that you get an update for and think to yourself "oh yeah, I forgot about that one, I am pleasantly surprised to see they have updated"

Sorry that this is not an update guys, but I thought you should know... also as a side note, if I ever do decide to abandon this, it will work like this:

I will put it up for adoption, one of you will PM me saying you would like to adopt it and give me a rough guide of what you want to do with it and then I will give my consent, then add a chapter telling everyone else where to go for the adopted version (I expect you to keep the original chapters and give an indication of where you picked it up and give me credit for the original chapters and the concept)

That is how it will work... but to clarify AT THIS PRESENT MOMENT I AM NOT ABANDONING THIS STORY, IT IS ON HIATUS.

Thankyou for sticking with it all this time.

Awakened-Earth


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